John Schneider: Quest for Lake Huron salmon tougher, still a treat

Jul. 9, 2014

Written by

In the mid-1990s. the glory days of the Lake Huron salmon fishery, even a rookie big-water angler like me could go out on northern Lake Huron at sunrise on a late July, or early August, morning and, by 9 a.m., return to the harbor with his three-fish limit ó 30 pounds, or more, of wild-caught chinook.

There were weeks when I had to stop fishing because we had eaten all we wanted, and our freezer was stuffed. We grilled it, baked it, smoked it, gave it away.

The tasty filets were only part of the bounty. The pursuit was a feast in itself ó the tranquility of trolling on the big lake, punctuated by screaming-reel battles with the king of sport fishing, prized for its power and fury.

What followed the heyday wasnít so much a crash as an erosion. Beginning with the new century, the salmon became increasingly harder to find, and smaller. Limits became rare, and 20-pound fish, even rarer.

The main culprit: the so-called aquatic hitchhikers, zebra and quagga mussels brought into the Great Lakes, unintentionally, by ocean freighters. These invaders gobbled up the plankton which had previously nourished alewives, the favorite food of chinook. Diminished numbers of alewives meant fewer salmon.

In the fat years, the parking lot at Hammond Bay Refuge Harbor, between Rogers City and Cheboygan, where I launch my boat, was often full of boat trailers. Now, itís just a few of us die-hards. Often, only me.

Now, if Iím lucky, two hours of trolling will get me one salmon, instead of three. Sometimes the skunk stays in my cooler.

Thatís OK; the past 20 years have taught me a little about how to find the fish, and how to catch them.

Meanwhile, the past 10 years have taught me how to appreciate them more.